Integrating host, natural enemy, and other processes in population models of the pine sawfly

Abstract

Explanation of population dynamics is one of the main problems in population ecology. There are two main approaches to the explanation: the factor approach and the dynamic approach. According to the first, an explanation is obtained when the effect of various environmental factors on population density is revealed. Such analysis is performed using well developed regression methods (Poole 1978). The resulting regression equations can be used for prediction of population density and their coefficients indicate the role of each factor in population change. This method of explanation considers the population as a black box with inputs and outputs. Population predictions obtained by regression are relevant only for stationary systems and only if mechanisms of population dynamics do not change.

Parent Publication

• Forest Insect Guilds: Patterns of Interaction with Host Trees

Citation

Sharov, A.A. 1991. Integrating host, natural enemy, and other processes in population models of the pine sawfly. In: Baranchikov, Yuri N.; Mattson, William J.; Hain, Fred P.; Payne, Thomas L., eds. Forest Insect Guilds: Patterns of Interaction with Host Trees; 1989 August 13-17; Abakan, Siberia, U.S.S.R. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-153. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station: 187-198.